REMEMBRANCE Day holds great importance in British life, seeing the country come together to pay our respects to our fallen service men and women.

Our armed forces not only lay their lives on the line to protect British people and our allies around the world, they have also died to protect our freedom and democracy.

This is a sacrifice that our armed forces have made for generations, in the First and Second World War, Falklands War, the Iraq War and so many other conflicts.

As we draw closer to the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War, it is right to recognise the role our armed forces have played in ensuring we live in the United Kingdom we know today.

However, each year in the lead up to Remembrance Sunday, stories emerge about one extreme left-wing group trying to make a name for themselves by rejecting our traditional act of remembrance.

This year, that outstanding effort was made by radical students at the University of Cambridge.

I was astonished to see that Cambridge University’s Students’ Union voted against the option to promote Remembrance Sunday events, including encouraging donations, amid fears that Remembrance Day “intentionally glorified and valorised conflict”.

Students who submitted a motion for the students’ union to support Remembrance Day have since received death threats.

To think that the right to be patriotic in our country and promote remembrance has now become an opinion that receives death threats is repugnant.

It’s also shocking, that in our 100th anniversary year of the Great War, that the targeting of veterans now also features in our legal system.

We are now seeing hundreds of veterans who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and in Iraq becoming the subjects of a witch-hunt, at risk of being prosecuted for the killings they carried out while in action.

Just this year, a 77-year-old Ulster veteran who has been suffering with heart problems, had his home raided by 18 police officers and was kept in custody for 80 hours while being grilled more than 26 times by police officers.

He’s now being charged with an ‘attempted murder’ that took place more than 44 years ago while serving in our armed forces.

It is a disgrace to think that IRA terrorists can be let off early for their crimes against the UK and yet the veterans who served in our armed forces, followed orders and fought to keep the peace and protect us now face time in jail.

This is why I’ve joined forces with 150 MPs and peers to speak out against this disgraceful pursuit of our veterans.

We must ensure that the current problem with our laws that allows this to take place is fixed so that our laws protect veterans that laid their lives on the line to protect us and our country.